A subtitle for this walk could be Wisteria Avenue and who doesn’t love a Wisteria? So too do the bees for the protein rich pollen of the Pea family. It can be pruned as much as we need to fit a limited space or shaped like a little tree on a single post or along a garden wall or round a garage.

 

Also beginning to flower now are a wealth of shrubs.

 

Choosing them for our small spaces can be a bit hit and miss as the ungainly little twigs in a pot at a garden centre can have little resemblance to the shape of the bush in 7 years i.e. is it a dome ,a fountain, reaching up, in horizontal tiers ? If we just read the size on the label, give up, and stick to small flowers, the pollinators in our garden are missing out on vital shelter and will quickly move away to escape the draughts nor do the birds have a sense of seclusion.

 

In these mature gardens we are bound to see the shape of a shrub to suit our space without resorting to clipping off most of the flowers poking into our path.

 

Continue down the hill looking for the twitten on the right of Arundel Rd leading through to Downsview Rd. This road is so leafy even the pavement is mossy. The constant mix of birdsong reflects the security of the closely bushy gardens with plenty of shelter for nests.

 

Turn left down  Southdown Road and on past Ham Bank to Southdown Corner and the old site of Lions Place on the right. Continue up the side of the new meadows as far as the hedgerow blossom by Florence House.

 

After stopping at a bench to identify the landmarks of the view take the diagonal path back down past the new disease resistant Elms planted by Trees for Seaford volunteers. An Elm is easy to recognise by its asymmetric leaf.

 

Return up the tree lined Links Road, turning right into Sutton Avenue and left into Arundel Road and back to Sutton Corner on the main road.

 

Recommended for mid-late spring bees:

 

Wisteria

Periwinkle climbing into shrubs.

Clematis species

Tree peony

Mexican Orange Blossom / Choisya.   

Weigela

Cistus creticus

Tamarisk

Rosemary as a tall shrub

Ceanothus

Flowering Currant

Pittosporum tobira

Berberis pruned to a single trunk

Pyracantha pruned to a mini tree form

 

Crab apple

Judas Tree has pea flowers

Rowan

Pear

Hawthorn (the white one)

Holly can flower even when clipped carefully